


Where Troubles Melt Like Lemon Drops

by SailorSol



Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Wizard of Oz Fusion, Crack Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Follow the Yellow Brick Road, Gen, No skipping allowed, Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-06
Updated: 2015-11-06
Packaged: 2018-04-30 08:55:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5157764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorSol/pseuds/SailorSol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where a Trouble lands them all in Oz. Scarecrows, tin men, and lions, oh my!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where Troubles Melt Like Lemon Drops

**Author's Note:**

  * For [roseveare](https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseveare/gifts).



> So... I apologize for lack of romance or kink in this story, but I hope the crackiness makes up for it? Also, blame the Trouble for any out of characterness..... 
> 
> This is set during S3, just after "Burned". I'm not current on S5, so apologies for any continuity mistakes that may appear here.

There were some days where coffee just wouldn’t cut it. As far as Audrey was concerned, most days since returning from Colorado fit that bill. Today... well, today was just extra special fun.

Audrey massaged her temples as she headed into the police station. Everything had lost its color, like they were all stuck in some television show from the 1950s. What was that movie where that happened? She couldn’t remember the name of it, had probably never actually seen it even though she remembered watching it. That was the story of her life, at the moment. Or lives, for that matter, now that she knew she had been both Lucy and Sarah and who knew how many other women before that.

She checked Nathan’s office first, half expecting to find Barney Fife sitting at the desk, but Nathan was nowhere to be found. No one else seemed concerned by the sudden desaturation; maybe Audrey was the only one who noticed? It wouldn’t have been the first time that she had somehow been the only one unaffected by the Troubles.

“Have you seen Nathan?” she asked Stan as he passed her, heading for his desk.

“Not since yesterday,” Stan replied. “Something up?”

Audrey shook her head. “No. I’ll give his cell a call.” Stan shrugged and continued on his way as Audrey dug her phone out of her pocket. She hit the speed dial, listening to the phone ring several times until it went to voicemail.

“Give me a call when you get this,” she said after the beep. “There’s a new Trouble and I’m not sure who else has noticed it.” Hopefully he’d call back soon, but maybe... She headed for the dispatch office, knocking on the door before sticking her head in. “Hey, Laverne, you haven’t seen Nathan today, have you?”

“No, hon,” Laverne replied. “But we just got a call for a body out on Franklin Boulevard. Lucassi is already on his way.”

“Right,” Audrey said. She wasn’t surprised; most Troubles came with bodies. She usually just had to figure out why they were linked. “Tell Nathan to call me when he gets in?”

“Sure thing,” Laverne said, handing Audrey a slip of paper with the address. She glanced at it before stuffing the paper into her pocket.

“One of those days,” she muttered, stepping outside once more into the grayscale world that Haven had become.

* * *

 

“Come on, Duke, answer your damn phone.” She was having no better luck getting through to Duke than she had with Nathan. It was like both of them were ignoring her, or something. She practically threw her phone down on the passenger seat. It slid across the leather and clattered down between the seat and the door where she couldn’t reach it. “Damn it!” she swore again.

She tried reaching over anyway; now would be the time one of the guys would return her calls, and she didn’t want to miss them. The car swerved and she jerked the wheel back before she went off the road, cursing at herself. She’d just have to get the phone when she got to the scene.

Which, lucky for her, was just around the corner. There was a thick fog hanging over the area, which made the whole lack of color thing a little less disturbing. Or less noticeable, at least, but right now she didn’t care too much as long as she didn’t have to think about it. She parked her car then headed for the passenger side door to dig her phone out of the void it had fallen into. She’d found three pens, a pack of gum, and a handful of loose change, but still no phone yet.

“Hey Parker, you gotta come take a look at this!” Eddie, the police photographer, yelled in her direction.

The phone was going to have to wait. She sighed and stood from her crouch, turning towards the direction Eddie had called from.

The fog had lifted. Color had returned to the world; rather, oversaturated, too bright, _technicolor_. Audrey was starting to get a sinking suspicion about what was going on with this Trouble. Her fears were confirmed as she approached the crime scene.

“It looks like the house landed on her,” Eddie said, snapping more pictures of the pair of legs sticking out from underneath the side of a house. All that was visible was from about the knees down, clad in thick striped socks and--

“Tell me those aren’t ruby red slippers,” Audrey said.

“Probably not real rubies,” Dr. Lucasi said, moving to crouch next to the body. “And not really slippers either. I haven’t determined a cause of death yet, Detective.”

“Are we seriously thinking it’s something other than being crushed to death by a house? Which as Eddie so kindly pointed out, fell on her.”

“Well, you know what they say,” Eddie said, grinning broadly. “The real estate market in Haven is really dropping.”

That didn’t even rate a groan. Especially not here in Haven where falling houses might become a norm. “Okay, so we know she’s dead. We think the house may have had something to do with it, because houses randomly drop on top of people to kill them. Do we know who she is?”

“Vanessa Easton.” Claire was wearing a hideous pink sweater as she approached, but she was carrying two cups of coffee, one of which she held out towards Audrey. “Are you a good witch or a bad witch?” she asked, before letting Audrey take the coffee.

“Not funny, Claire. Do I look like a Kansas farm girl to you?” She snatched the coffee from Claire’s hands, enjoying a nice whiff of the dark roast before sipping at it.

Claire tilted her head and grinned. “Well, if you braided your hair into pigtails, you could maybe pass as Dorothy.”

Audrey rolled her eyes. “In case you hadn’t noticed, this isn’t Kansas.” She blinked, horrified at herself. “I just said that, didn’t I? Oh God, this Trouble is going to be ridiculous, isn’t it.”

“Is that all you can think of?” And that was Jordan approaching the scene, because Haven did a terrible job at maintaining scene perimeters for anyone wearing a Guard tattoo. “How ridiculous it’s going to be to solve this murder? Vanessa was a friend of mine. Practically a sister.”

Audrey couldn’t help the snort that escaped. She held her hands up quickly. “Sorry, Jordan, I’m taking this seriously, I really am--but you just called the woman a house landed on your sister. You know what that makes you?”

Jordan glared, crossing her arms. “I’d like her personal effects. If that’s not too much trouble, Detective Parker.”

“You mean you want her shoes,” Claire said. “Her shoes that are now police evidence until this crime is solved.”

“No, please, Jordan. Take them. I don’t want them--I don’t need them! I know how this movie ends, I don’t need magic shoes to help me find my way ‘home’.” Audrey went over to the body and pulled the shoes off the dead woman, taking a bit less care than she should have. She dumped them into an evidence bag Lucassi handed her, then held the bag out for Jordan to take. “There you go!”

“I don’t want her shoes, for crying out loud!” Jordan snapped. “She has something in her purse that I want.”

Audrey blinked. Claire snickered behind her hands. “Oh. Yeah, sure, go ahead. But, you know, don’t leave town, blah blah blah.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Jordan said, moving past them to go into the house.

“Looks like you’re stuck with the shoes,” Claire said. “Looks like you guys don’t need me here though, so I’m going to head back to the office.”

“Yeah, thanks Glinda. You were a real help.”

* * *

 

The road was yellow. Audrey wasn’t surprised, not really. Troubles had an amazing attention for detail sometimes. That was usually how Audrey figured out what the Trouble was and where it originated. The _what_ of this one was apparent--at least insomuch as they were trapped in Oz--but the _who_ of it was still beyond a mystery. Which meant, for now, she was stuck following the road in the hopes that whoever the hell the wizard was would actually know whose Trouble this was, too.

And to add insult to injury, her car had run out of gas halfway into town and she still couldn’t find her cell phone, so now she was left resolutely _not_ skipping back to the station to start her investigation on Vanessa Easton.

She was maybe halfway back to town when she reached a four way intersection. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said. The yellow road continued on in front of her, but it also branched off to the right and the left. “There’s supposed to be a scarecrow around here somewhere, isn’t there?”

She spun in a circle, looking at her surroundings. No corn fields, but there were some trees nearby. “Uh... a little help?” a man called from that direction.

Audrey sighed, but picked her way through the underbrush to find Duke half hanging from a tree. “Do I even want to know?”

“Audrey! Fantastic! Look, you gotta get me down from here, you have no idea how uncomfortable this is,” Duke said. “I’ve been here since this morning, and no one passing by has heard me.”

“Do you have your cell phone with you?” she asked, helping him down off the tree. “I’ve been trying to reach you.”

Duke frowned, patting at his pockets until he found his phone. “Huh. Now why didn’t I think of that? Look, do you know what’s going on? I don’t even remember how I got out here...”

“It’s a Trouble, straw man,” Audrey replied. “Come on. We’re following the yellow brick road.” She led Duke back out onto the road. “Has Nathan called you at all? I haven’t been able to reach him today either.”

Duke checked his phone again. “No, just you. Why is there a yellow brick road in Haven again?”

“It’s a Trouble,” Audrey replied. “Look, do you know which way is back to town? Everything was black and white this morning and now it’s all in technicolor and I’m guessing we have to go find a wizard to get this fixed.”

“This way,” Duke said, pointing. “You’d look hot with pigtails.”

“I so don’t need this right now,” Audrey said, starting off in the direction Duke pointed. She stopped when she realized Duke wasn’t following her. “Are you coming, or not?”

“Oh. Sure? Wait a minute--if you’re Dorothy, and you just found me, and you called me...hey, this isn’t fair! Why do I have to be the Scarecrow?” Duke protested.

“Not so brainless after all,” Audrey muttered. “Look, it’s not like I’m the one making this up. Claire’s Glinda and Jordan’s the Wicked Witch and I haven’t managed to get in touch with Nathan, and now I’m starting to wonder if he’s rusting somewhere in the woods. Can we please just head into town and figure out whose Trouble this is so I don’t have to put the damn ruby slippers on?”

“Ooh, are there really ruby slippers?” Duke asked. “Why aren’t you wearing them already?”

“I swear to God, Duke, I will not hesitate to shoot you. I’ve had just about enough with today,” Audrey threatened.

Duke raised his hands up non-threateningly. “Hey, relax. At least this isn’t a dangerous Trouble, right?”

“As long as we ignore all of the Flying Monkeys and melting witches, sure,” she said, starting to walk again.

“Oh. Right. One more question?” Duke asked.

“One more,” she agreed.

“Why are we walking?”

* * *

 

“This is fun,” Duke declared, fifteen minutes later. Audrey had commandeered his cell phone, but was still having no luck reaching Nathan. Of course, Nathan may have just been ignoring any calls from Duke, but at this point Audrey knew that was wishful thinking.

“This is not fun,” Audrey replied. “This is a waste of an entire day. Why can I not have one normal case around here? Just one!”

“You’re the one who decided to stay,” Duke pointed out. “I mean, I’m sure you only stayed because of me, and maybe Nathan, but mostly me. Ooh, maybe you stayed because of _both_ of us. I like how your mind works, Audrey Parker.”

“And I like when you have a brain-to-mouth filter, but that’s not happening either, now is it?”

“You know what your problem is, Audrey?” Duke asked, stopping. “You never stop to smell the flowers.”

Audrey stopped, turning to face Duke with her arms crossed. “What flowers, Duke? In case you somehow managed to miss it, my life is kind of falling apart around me. I don’t know who I actually am, except that I have some sort of mysterious past--sorry, _pasts_ \--that have ended with me going into the Barn and vanishing for years on end before coming back as a new person. And to make things better, one of my best friends is some kind of Troubles-assassin and the other one keeps running off and doing idiotic things that are likely to get him killed. Oh wait, he’s already been killed!”

Duke blinked. “Wow. I just meant those flowers over there,” he said, pointing to a cluster of flowers off the side of the still-yellow road. “Am I really one of your best friends?”

She sighed, scrubbing at her face. “Of course you are, Duke. I’m sorry. I’ve just been under a lot of stress lately.”

Duke grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the flowers like some kind of overenthusiastic puppy dog, gangling limbs and all. “So let’s stop and smell them!”

She had to admit, his cheerful attitude--something that had been lacking in the last few months--was contagious. She allowed herself to be dragged, squatting down to avoid getting mud on the knees of her jeans. She didn’t recognize the flowers; they were small and washed in colors of blue and purple. When she plucked one to smell, though, it didn’t smell like anything.

“I think my flowers are a dud,” she told Duke, standing up again. Her movement startled some animals further into the woods; several squirrels burst into chittering excitement. It sounded like they were having some sort of fight. Ever the curious type, Audrey left Duke among the flowers to find out what was going on.

“Oh, Nathan,” she said, sighing. There were three squirrels perched on him, squabbling over which one got to nest in his hair. He was standing frozen in place, glaring at her.

“Mmphhfmmm.”

“I’m sorry, Nathan, I can’t understand you right now.” She approached and shooed the squirrels away, taking first his left arm to move and try to loosen up so he wasn’t stuck any more. He went nearly boneless at her first touch, and she had to scramble to keep him from falling completely to the ground.

“What is it this time?” Nathan grumbled, once Audrey got him sitting down properly on the ground. “I could hear my phone ringing, but I couldn’t get to it. Obviously.”

“Nathan!” Duke said, trotting into the clearing. He’d made himself a flower crown in the short minutes it had taken Audrey to find Nathan. “We’re going to find the wizard so I can get my brain back!”

“You lost your mind years ago, Duke, I doubt a wizard can help you find it now,” Nathan said, heaving himself up to his feet.

Audrey grimaced. “I’m afraid Duke is only sort of joking. I got called out this morning to find a house on top of Vanessa Easton, who is, and I quote, _like a sister_ to Jordan.”

“A house,” Nathan repeated.

“Do you want to see her ruby slippers or can we just get back to following the yellow brick road so we can end this Trouble already?” Audrey asked. She didn’t wait for an answer, leading them both back out of the woods.

Nathan stopped at the edge of the road. “This shouldn’t be here.”

“Gee thanks, Nathan, I never could have figured that out for myself!” Audrey snapped. “Is this why they made you chief of police; your keen observational skills?”

“She’s cranky,” Duke stage-whispered to Nathan. “I think she’d be less cranky if she put her hair in pigtails and put on the ruby slippers.”

Nathan gave Duke a sideways look. “He’s the Scarecrow, then?” Nathan asked, sounding entirely nonplussed.

“And that makes you the man without a heart.” Jordan approached from down the road. “Fitting, really,” she added.

“This is the part where you threaten me again, right?” Audrey asked. “I’m trying to figure out what happened to your friend. I really am. It would be going a lot smoother if I wasn’t stuck in the plot of one of the cheesiest movies known to mankind. I assure you, you’ll be the first person to know when I’ve solved this. Or you’ll be getting melted by water later, which is something I’m trying to avoid, by the way. I don’t like you much, but I don’t want you dead.”

“I can’t say the feeling is mutual,” Jordan replied. She scowled for a moment longer, before uncrossing her arms and turning her back. “Her niece Melanie lived with her. She’s missing.”

“Thank you,” Audrey called, but Jordan was already inside her car, speeding off.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to thank the Wicked Witch of the West,” Nathan said. Duke started giggling. “What?” Nathan asked.

“I’m the one who’s not supposed to think! Plus, y’know, she makes a pretty good witch.”

“Alright,” Audrey said. “We still have to find whoever ended up as the Lion and make it back to town --which I’m hoping won’t be green-- and figure out who the hell the wizard is so maybe things can go back to as normal as they get ‘round here.”

Duke grabbed Nathan and started pulling him down the path. “Last one to the wizard is a rotten egg!”

* * *

 

“I’m not going.”

“Damn it, Dwight, I don’t have time for this!” Audrey said.

“Scaredy-cat, scaredy-cat,” Duke sing-songed. “Dwight’s a big scared pussy cat!”

Dwight glared at Duke. “You’d want to stay out of things too, if you were a bullet magnet.”

“Can we just get going?” Nathan asked, sounding bored.

“Please, Dwight,” Audrey nearly begged. “There’s a fine line between cautious and cowardice, and right now you’re falling on the wrong side of that line, and I really need someone sane on this trip.”

“I’m sane,” Nathan grumbled.

Audrey rolled her eyes. “Do you see what I’ve been dealing with, Dwight? I know you; hiding inside isn’t how you work. This Trouble’s messing with your brain, making you think it’s the only way to stay safe. Come with us, help us fix this. Please.”

Dwight frowned, but she could see his resolve wearing away. “Fine. Just let me get my bulletproof vest.”

* * *

 

“ _This_ is where we’re going to find the wizard?” Audrey asked, standing outside the _Haven Herald_ office. “Please, please, someone just wake me up from this nightmare already.”

“Have you tried clicking your heels together?” Nathan drawled. Audrey glared at him.

“She wouldn’t put them on,” Duke said. “I bet if she had, we’d have figured this out by now.”

“You don’t get to talk any more, Duke. Let’s go.”

“I’m not going in there,” Dwight said, crossing his arms stubbornly. “You can’t make me.”

“I have a gun, Dwight, I damn well _can_ make you. All of you, inside. Now.” She waited for the boys to file inside in front of her before following them, blocking the door.

“We’re closed,” Dave declared from his desk, not even bothering to look up. “Come back tomorrow.”

“I am not waiting any longer to end this, Dave,” Audrey said. “If you’re the one sitting out here blocking our way, I’m guessing Vince is supposed to be the wizard, and you’re going to tell me where he is right now, or I am going to take Dwight’s taser and not stop until you squeal like one of the three little pigs.”

Dave looked up, eyes wide. Dwight was half cowering behind Duke, who was cowering behind Nathan. Nathan’s expression hadn’t changed at all, but that wasn’t much different than any other day. “Audrey! How nice of you to stop by! What is this about a wizard?”

“Don’t play this game with me, Dave, I’m just about out of patience here. Vanessa Easton is dead, we went from black and white to technicolor, and there’s a damned yellow brick road running through Haven straight to your front door. Duke’s gone brainless, Nathan’s even more emotionless than normal, and do you see what Dwight is doing right now? He is _cowering_.”

“I am not!” Dwight protested, but he didn’t make any effort to move from behind his pair of human shields.

“Well, when you put it that way...” Dave said mildly, standing up. “I’ll go get him from the back room.”

“If you run off without getting him, you will die a slow, painful death, Dave,” Audrey threatened.

“Feisty,” Duke said. Nathan made a noise that might have been agreement. Audrey didn’t want to think about it too closely, not right now. Dave, at least, wasn’t dawdling in fetching Vince, and the two reappeared from the back room moments later.

“Audrey. Lovely day, wouldn’t you say?” Vince said amicably, sitting on the edge of his desk.

“Cut the crap and tell me why someone might have dropped a house on Vanessa Easton and thrown us all into Oz.”

Vince and Dave’s expressions shared a silent conversation. “I’d like to help you, Audrey. I really would. But Vanessa never told me what her family’s Trouble was. The only one who knows is Jordan, I’m afraid.”

“Of course. Why am I even surprised any more? Alright, you three; the wizard’s useless quell surprise. We stick with the story; let’s hunt down the witch.”

* * *

 

“Are we really going witch hunting?” Dwight asked, once they were safely inside Audrey’s office at the station.

“Do I look like the Rev to you? Don’t answer that Duke, or so help me--” she said, before Duke could do more than open his mouth. “No, Dwight, we’re not actually going witch hunting. We’re going to call Jordan and ask her what the Easton family Trouble is, and then we’re going to find Melanie Easton and see if she’s the source of this mess.”

“That sounds incredibly simple,” Nathan said.

“It is,” Audrey agreed. “I like to keep things simple. Dwight, call Jordan, she may actually take your call. Nathan, go have Laverne put out an APB on Melanie. Duke....”

“You need more coffee and a muffin,” Duke finished for her. He offered her a lazy salute. “I shall return with sustenance!” He and Nathan shuffled out the door.  Dwight followed moments later, using Nathan’s office to make the call to Jordan in privacy.

Audrey took the moment of peace to rest her head on her desk. She could see how everyone else fit the roles they’d stumbled into, but she didn’t know--or maybe didn’t want to know--how she had ended up as Dorothy. Maybe it was the only-sane-person-in-Haven thing. She had too many other things going on with figuring out about James and Sarah and Lucy, with the meteor shower getting closer and still no idea what might happen if she didn’t go back into the Barn. Haven _was_ her home, she didn’t need a trip to Oz and a pair of ruby slippers to tell her that.

Her desk phone started ringing. She pushed herself up and answered. “Detective Parker.”

“Audrey, hey, it’s Claire. I’ve been trying your cell phone, but it seems to be off?”

“No, I just lost it somewhere in my car. What’s up? Please tell me you have some kind of good news.”

“Depends on your definition of good news. What I do have is Melanie Easton at the school playground, which currently looks like some sort of evil forest.”

Audrey sighed. “Okay. Thanks, Claire. If she goes somewhere else, call me on Duke’s phone.”

* * *

 

“No,” Dwight said. “I’m not going in there. Spooky forests that grow out of nowhere? I’ll pass, thank you.”

“It doesn’t look so bad,” Duke said, but he didn’t sound terribly convincing. “I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?”

“We could all die bloody and painful deaths,” Nathan replied. “Or at least, painful for the rest of you.”

“I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to know what brainless Scarecrow Duke on Troubled blood looks like,” Dwight says. “So I’ll just stay out here and, you know, make sure no one gets too close.”

Audrey caught him by the sleeve. “Come on. Unless you want to wait out here for the flying monkeys?”

“What flying monkeys?” Duke asked, spinning around while looking up in the sky.

“If Jordan’s the witch?” Nathan asked. “Probably the Guard.”

Dwight looked torn; Nathan still looked bored, and Duke was now looking around the street to see if anyone was approaching. “Fine,” Audrey declared. “You can all wait out here. I’ll be back.”

She didn’t bother waiting. There was a path through the gnarled trees that twisted towards the center of the playground. She followed it until she caught sight of a young girl, maybe fifteen or sixteen years old, sitting on a swing. “Leave me alone,” the girl said, as Audrey approached.

“Melanie, right? My name’s Audrey Parker. I’m a detective with Haven PD.”

“A detective?” Melanie asked, looking up from the pattern she had been tracing in the dirt. “I’d like to report a kidnapping.”

Audrey frowned. “A kidnapping? Who was kidnapped?”

“Me,” Melanie said. “I _told_ my aunt I didn’t want to come to this stupid town, but she dragged me here anyway. I had things under control at home. Nothing’s different here, it’s not any better, and I don’t know anyone here. I’m glad that house landed on her. Maybe now I can go home.”

Well, that at least explained why this girl’s Trouble had manifested in this particular fashion. Audrey turned quickly as something came crashing through the undergrowth. Dwight stumbled into the clearing first, followed by Nathan and Duke.

“Who are they?” Melanie asked, sounding half curious and half defensive.

“These are my friends,” Audrey said, turning back. “Dwight, the town handyman; Duke, the town.... well. He owns a bar here in town. And Nathan, he’s the chief of police. They’re like you.”

“Like me? As if.”

Audrey sat down on the swing next to Melanie. “A lot of people in Haven are like you. Did your aunt tell you that, when she brought you here?”

Melanie shrugged. “I guess so. But I told you, things were fine at home.”

“So you didn’t turn everything into Oz when you were upset?” Duke asked.

“No!” Melanie said. “I mean... it wasn’t always Oz. Last time it was Wonderland... But no one got hurt. Look, I’m a junior. All I want is to stay at my school with my friends and graduate with them next year and then go off to college like a normal person, and not some sort of freak.”

“Having a Trouble doesn’t make you a freak,” Dwight said. “It can make things hard, but you can make a normal life for yourself. Haven is...”

“Where all your Troubles go away, I know,” Melanie said. “That’s what Jordan told me, but _her_ Trouble isn’t gone, and neither is mine or anyone else’s.”

Audrey swallowed hard, exchanging a look with Nathan. He was finally starting to show a bit of emotion, a frown settling on his face. “We’re working on it,” Audrey replied.

Nathan dropped into a crouch in front of Melanie. “Do you think you can control your Trouble? Make sure no one else gets hurt by it?”

“No one’s ever been hurt by it before. No one even talks about it, after it happens, like they don’t even remember it. I tried telling my aunt that, but she wouldn’t listen.”

“Grown ups can be stupid,” Duke said, sounding serious despite his words. “Always thinking they know what’s best for everyone else.”

“Well you don’t,” Melanie said, crossing her arms. She hesitated a moment. “Is my aunt really dead?”

“I’m sorry,” Nathan said.

Melanie started crying. “I didn’t want her to die.”

“We know.” Nathan reached out to rest a comforting hand on her knee. “Troubles... it happens sometimes. People we love die.... or leave us...” His voice cracked and he trailed off.

“I have a friend named Claire,” Duke said. “She’s really good at talking to people about this sort of thing. Not just your aunt, but your Trouble and being here in Haven and everything. Maybe you can talk to her, and both of you can talk to your parents. I don’t see any reason why you should have to stay here, if you don’t want to.”

Melanie bit her lip, looking up at him. “Really?”

“Well, you’ll have to ask him, he’s the one in charge,” Duke said, gesturing towards Nathan. “But I’ve known him a long time, and I know he’s just a big softie inside.”

Nathan rolled his eyes, but stood up and held out a hand for Melanie. “Duke’s right. Come on. Let’s go find Claire.”

Melanie hesitated a moment, then tentatively reached out to take Nathan’s hand, standing up from the swing. “Okay,” she said softly.

The forest vanished around them. Colors shifted back to their normal drab Maine tones. Audrey sighed in relief as Duke and Nathan led Melanie towards where Claire was parked in her car.

“She’s lucky,” Dwight said, still standing near the swingset. “Not all of us get happy endings.”

“We make our own happy endings, Dwight. Isn’t that the point of the whole thing?”

 


End file.
